Hide (2020)

Hide ABA Indies Introduce PickIndie Next List Selection Best of the Month BookWendell and Frank meet at the end of World War II when Frank returns home to their North Carolina town Soon he s loitering aro

Title: Hide

Author: Matthew Griffin

ISBN: 9781632863386

Page: 145

Format: Hardcover

ABA Indies Introduce PickIndie Next List Selection Best of the Month BookWendell and Frank meet at the end of World War II, when Frank returns home to their North Carolina town Soon he s loitering around Wendell s taxidermy shop, and the two come to understand their connection as love a love that, in this time and place, can hold real danger Cutting nearly all tiesABA Indies Introduce PickIndie Next List Selection Best of the Month BookWendell and Frank meet at the end of World War II, when Frank returns home to their North Carolina town Soon he s loitering around Wendell s taxidermy shop, and the two come to understand their connection as love a love that, in this time and place, can hold real danger Cutting nearly all ties with the rest of the world, they make a home for themselves on the outskirts of town, a string of beloved dogs for company Wendell cooks, Frank cares for the yard, and together they enjoy the vicarious drama of courtroom TV But when Wendell finds Frank lying outside among their tomatoes at the age of eighty three, he feels a new threat to their careful self reliance As Frank s physical strength and his memory deteriorate, the two of them must fully confront the sacrifices they ve made for each other and the impending loss of the life they ve built.Tender, gently funny, and gorgeously rendered, Hide is a love story of rare power.

Published by Matthew Griffin

Matthew Griffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the Iowa Writers Workshop He has taught composition, literature, and creative writing at the University of Iowa and Walters State Community College, and he worked for several years as Assistant to the Director of Highlander Research and Education Center, a renowned hub of grassroots organizing for social justice throughout the South and Appalachia He was born and raised in North Carolina and now lives with his husband and too many pets in Louisiana, where he is a visiting professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

One Reply to “Hide”

We come from the earthWe return to the earthAnd inbetween we garden.I don t know who said the above words but they are the first I spoke this morning.while still in bed next to my husband having finished reading HIDE , seconds ago This is the MOST MOST MOST beautiful story THE PROSE is GORGEOUS THE CHARACTERS will not be forgotten This story touched every cell in my body I m confident to HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to EVERY LIVING HUMAN BEING who values compassion, passion, or empathy towards the [...]

1.5 starsFrank and Wendall have to pretend to be brothers They can t tell anyone that they really live together and aren t related They are living in North Carolina during a time that their lifestyle could end them in jail Or worse In the psychiatric literature, in the diagnositc manuals, they described the pathological disturbance of the homosexual, in Congress they railed against degenerates, deviants, pederants, subversives, sodomites, sexual psychopaths, in the New York Times it was perverts [...]

Erase Erase Erase the gruesome image out of my mind right this minute My brain thumbs its nose at my command, and the damn scene lives on Folks, this was not supposed to be horror It was supposed to be a quiet book Quiet my ass There s a horrendous event involving a pet and it eclipses everything else And the scene drags on and on Once it s over, you re still reminded of it to the very end I wish I had been warned I would have avoided this book like the plague.The book is about two gay men, Wend [...]

I d rate this 4.5, maybe even 4.75 stars.Full disclosure I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review Many thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury USA for making it available Poignant, beautiful, and moving, Matthew Griffin s Hide is a powerful love story that you don t often see depicted in movies, books, or television shows, but it is truly resonant and relevant.It isn t long after World War II when Frank, returning home from military service, meets Wend [...]

Well, I had read about half of this hoping it would get better Truth is, I was bored due to endless mundane descriptions While I was interested in these two men, and what a life lived in secrecy must be like, I never felt connected to either of them Maybe one of the characters profession as a taxidermist played a part I don t know, but I just found myself uninterested I decided to continue reading as there were such controversial views that I wanted to see for myself I m really glad a reviewer w [...]

4.5 StarsAfter World War II Frank returns home from military service to his rural North Carolina town It isn t long before he meets Wendell, a shy, reserved taxidermist, in a rural North Carolina town With few words said, and only eye contact made, they find they are drawn to each other With few words said they find love Due to the climate of the times, they were forced to live in fear and isolation or face the legal consequences of being gay in a decidedly anti gay world, living in fear of even [...]

Quiet, powerful and moving A very real look at the quiet desperation of aging and loss the pain and distortion of a life spent in hiding in a world before two men in a small town could live openly This will stick with me for a long, long time.

Hide by Matthew GriffinThis is my favorite book that I have read since 2002 I don t think my review can do the book enough justice Matthew Griffin is a graduate of the Iowa s Writers workshop and the humanity of his writing really reflects his training there And the love and humanity shines through like the brightest diamond in his magnificent work with his novel Hide.It took me one sitting to read this because I simply could not part with the beautiful prose of this tender story It takes place [...]

I abandoned this horrific novel at page 212 of 252 , unable to continue without actually vomiting up my lunch, which I rashly was eating while reading Matthew Griffin s disgusting first book Maybe you will like it I didn t.It began well enough In the first few chapters I was pleased to hear from a new voice in the literary gay fiction genre, and a note I took at the time for this review says A joy reading new fiction from a young author in which a cell phone doesn t appear essentially as a chara [...]

Wow A powerful story about caregiving and dementia The setting oscillates between present time and shortly after World War II A fifty year love filled relationship between two men It would be a pretty boring story if it was a heterosexual couple It is somewhat boring until about 80% through Word of warning, do not read the last 20% of the book while getting a pedicure If you re like me, you ll start sobbing uncontrollably The story was a good compliment to a diversity training I just went throug [...]

Here is an impressive first novel from an author who writes beyond the limits of his own years Griffin s too close perspective and rich, unapologetic use of metaphor is in turn gorgeous and gritty He practices true restraint in his writing, which belies rare talent, even for seasoned writers This is a story of love and aging and everyday life, but none of it is dull or expected There is little dialogue for how much is said between Frank and Wendell about identity, fear, passion, and commitment I [...]

I m having a hard time putting into words how much this book meant to me It s everything I d want out of a literary fiction novel, even though yes it is slow moving, verbose, and incredibly descriptive of every detail, as many reviewers here have noted It s got beautiful prose, authentic dialogue, real and flawed characters It reads like a memoir I definitely laughed out loud at certain points, and cried than once I reread certain paragraphs or pages several times, because they were so perfect [...]

I have to be honest I feel hesitant about posting this review Why For two reasons, the first being that I wasn t able to finish this book and the second being that I feel bad for not liking this novel.As with any other book I entered Mathew Griffin s debut novel with an open mind The premise seemed interesting and I was ready to give my heart to Frank and Wendell, whose love had kept them together for a bit over five decades However, I was about fifty pages in and I felt no connection to any asp [...]

A lusciously written novel about an aging homosexual couple, Frank Clifton and Wendell Wilson, who have been together for sixty years and have had to hide their relationship from society, their local community, and family The story goes back and forth between the time when Frank and Wendell met and fell in love to current time when Frank 83 has a stroke and his health slowly declines Griffin does an excellent job of slowly unfolding the story and pulling at the sentimental heart strings of the r [...]

Wendell Wilson, a taxidermist, and Frank Clifton, a veteran, meet after the end of the Second World War It is a time when such love holds real danger Severing nearly all ties with the rest of the world, they create a home for themselves, and for decade the routine of self reliant domesticity seems to protect them But when Wendell finds Frank lying motionless outside at the age of eighty three, their life together begins to unravel As frank s memory deteriorates, Wendell must come to terms with t [...]

This novel gave me everything I could ever want in a book It was funny, sad, terrifying, disturbing, dramatic, over the top, and lovely all at the same time As a gay man, this is the kind of love story I ve been wanting to find for so long, and having just finished reading the narrative of Frank and Wendell s enduring relationship, I can finally say I ve found it.Matthew Griffin s prose is such a joy to read There are so many sentences, paragraphs, even entire pages that felt nearly flawless to [...]

It is very refreshing to read a debut novel by a young gay man which is not about a young gay man living a fucked up life in New York It is about two old men nearing death together in North Carolina It is often over written and too polished the way workshopped novels at the Iowa Writers Workshop often are, but Griffin has talent The fruitcake bit had me laughing But there is no real story here, just a portrait that might have worked better as a short story, as in One Came Over the Mountain I tho [...]

I was fortunate to receive a pre pub copy of Hide Matthew Griffin s debut novel is an honest, realistic look into the lives of of two men in love Griffin reminds us in our 2015 marriage equality world that not so long ago, gay couples had to hide their authentic selves if they were to carve out any kind of life with each other Frank and Wendell abandon everything literally to be together in a hostile post WWII small Southern town Does it damage them permanently Yes Was it worth it The answer is [...]

I received an ARC from NetGalley in response for an honest review I d actually rate this one 4.5 stars But won t let me.I anticipate that this book will be touted closer to its release date and look forward to saying that I was lucky enough to read it before its publication date.This novel reminded me of Still Alice in that it too is a haunting and devastating portrait of a slow death But what makes it unique is that it is the story of a forbidden love between two men and about what happens when [...]

Up until page 202, I was thinking this was a solid 3, maybe even a 4 star book but no spoilers something happens on that page from which the novel never recovers and I could barely make it through the next ten pages, which details the intricacies of taxidermy in detail than I ever wanted to know Plus, in retrospect, the description of the book is somewhat misleading I was expecting something along the lines of Brokeback Mountain , a story of a love that couldn t exist openly and what I got was [...]

This debut was so quietly poignant it reminded me of some of my favorite indie movies that are so spare and seem to have no plot at all, but still leave you with gratitude that the story is being told This book is not action packed, or heavy on drama, or even completely heartbreaking or joyous, but it does paint a lovely portrait of two men trying to build a life together when it wasn t so easy for them to do just that No huge twists, turns, or cliffhangers but if you re looking for a smooth sto [...]

I don t think I would have discovered this book save for a mention on a podcast I listen to but it may be one of the highlights of my reading year.The story is about two men who live together as a couple in a remote north Carolina house The first chapter sees a dramatic opening as Frank collapses in his garden and is rushed into hospital This event allows the story of their life and love together to emerge at the same time as we see the effects of a man s deterioration on his partner Their love [...]

The best gay novel I ve read in many a year, capturing in perfect prose the confines of the closet and the love that, however distorted, grew there between two southern men from just after WWII to the present, them barely giving a nod to barely breathing the slightest bit easier after Stonewall or anything that followed It s also a moving depiction of aging A marvelous debut.Readers squeamish about taxidermy or a graphic description of the accidental violent death of a pet might want to consider [...]

A beautiful, at times tender and heartbreaking love story Two timelines run throughout portraying the secret love between Wendell and Frank when they first meet after WWII and sixty years later when Frank suffers a stroke and early stages of dementia The consequences of keeping their illegal and forbidden love secret are keenly felt Be warned there is an incident involving on animal on page 202 that is truly shocking and didn t totally fit with the cosmology of the book hide

I was on my way to the window to flip my notice from OPEN to CLOSEDd there he was, standing on the train tracks Excuse me , I yelled Were you looking for something Naw, Nothing in particular Frank Clifton Wendell Wilson Pleased to meet you, he said, smiling wide and earnest, and I thought I d be struck down by it, the way it struck down mortals to behold Zeus in his full, blazing divinity.A war weary veteran of World War II arrives home by train, unsure what the future holds for him in his small [...]

LGBT fiction has come into its own A lot of young adult novels are also exploring queer love as constant themes also coming out Hide by Matthew Griffin is a book that is full of wisdom, tenderness and a love that cannot be spoken of It is a story of two men and their love togetherness, companionship and above all hiding the truth, which is where the title comes from Actually, to me the title is a lot than just that and I will talk about it in a bit Hide by Matthew Griffin is a love story of two [...]

Matthew Griffin s beautiful debut novel Hide tells a story that I hungered for as a teen a layered and nuanced lifelong romance between two men But this is than simply a gay romance it s a novel about how love transforms over large stretches of time and the different roles partners play during difficult periods of life.Frank and Wendell meet after WWII in North Carolina Frank served in the war and Wendell works as a taxidermist Amidst their burgeoning romance within a small community, they are [...]

this book was quite engaging, passionate, insightful, touching, and aggravating, depressing, bleak all at the same time the book starts at two different points in the two men s relationship where they currently are and how they first met and the juxtaposition between these to points is what i found bleak they seemed to have such love and passion for each other that is completely gone from their current relationship i found this deterioration hard to read at points sometimes, they are quite mean [...]

The writing in this book is utterly gorgeous About halfway through, I started bookmarking pages just so I could return to them and read these words over and over again Some reduced me to tears, some made me gasp at their lyricism This is a beautiful story told through transcendent language let the words speak for themselves For bodies, he said, bodies are nothing but seeds tilled into the earth, out of which, after their long germination, they shall uncurl their shoots, and bend toward the sun, [...]